Lingering Frost
by CornerofCreativity
Summary: The Eternal Winter and Great Thaw may have passed, but that doesn't mean that the Queen and Princess of Arendelle have stopped having adventures of their own. Random short stories, not-so-short stories, and one shots all set in the same continuum.
1. Chocolate

_**A/N:**_** Just a quick note. New guy here, though I've been lurking around for a while. I'm no stranger to writing fanfic, however. My writing style tends to revolve around dialogue and contains a lot of witty banter sometimes. Hope you enjoy.**

_**Chocolate**_

It was lightly snowing outside, much to Queen Elsa of Arendelle's delight. She pushed the window in her office wide open and stuck her head outside, closing her eyes and breathing in the fresh, cold air. She giggled to herself like a child. Wind caused a flurry of snow to swirl past her, making looping patterns in the air. Six months after the Great Thaw, and a perfectly naturally occurring winter had descended upon Arendelle.

Behind her, the servant Kai stood patiently. "Will that be all, your majesty?" He asked, seeing how they were more or less done with their work. Elsa had been busy with some trade documents, and had required Kai's opinion on several issues.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, one last thing." Elsa reluctantly retreated back into her office, turning to face Kai. "Could you deliver those to the Minister of Trade?" She pointed at a stack of papers an inch or two high; the trade documents that had been her work for day so far.

"I'm sure he'll be glad to receive these." Kai said, picking up the paper.

"Probably not. I'm just passing them on for him to polish off. There's still a little bit more on them that needs to be done..." She looked at a clock hanging on the wall. It was currently a bit past 5 in the afternoon. She'd been up at 6 in the morning for a quick breakfast, then paperwork for rest of the day until past midnight with a break or two in between for sustenance. That was how it went almost every day. She had prepared for this kind of schedule before she had come to age, but what she hadn't taken into account was how utterly exasperating and exhausting the paperwork would be.

She sighed and ran a hand through her platinum blonde hair, then grabbed her braid and looked at it. "I wonder how long it will take for my hair to start graying from all this..." Elsa pondered.

"I believe your father had his first gray hair when he was in his late 20s. Once your mother found out, she was so infuriated that she locked him out of his own office for a month, doing his paperwork for him." Kai said humorously.

"Really now?..."

Kai nodded. "From then on, she practically forbad him from working for hours at a time. And when he was working, she spent her time with him, helping and providing company. They spent much more time together after that. And of course, the next year you were born."

Elsa made a face.

"Now, if I may be so bold, perhaps you should take a break before you move on." Kai suggested. It was unhealthy how much time she spent on her paperwork, and at such a young age. Unfortunately, it was just one of those things that came with being a ruler.

"Perhaps…" Elsa sat down in a chair and sighed. "Yes, actually, I think I will."

Kai blinked. The Queen had never agreed to his break suggestions without putting up a fight.

"Wise decision. I'll go deliver these now and give you some peace." He said, showing no sign of his surprise in his speech and he opened the door and prepared to leave with the papers.

"Ah, thank you. Oh, and one last thing, Kai." Elsa spoke as the servant was about to exit the room. "Would you happen to know where Anna is?"

"Your sister? I surmise that she's at the town market; that was where she was planning to go, wasn't it?"

"...Of course, that's right… You may go now."

"Your majesty." Kai said with a bow. Then he exited the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Elsa alone.

Sitting in the chair, Elsa plotted in her mind. Anna was out of the palace, which meant…

Quickly making up her mind, she stood up and walked out of the room, purpose in her stride.

* * *

Princess Anna of Arendelle came rushing out of the palace gates, her braids and a purse flying behind her. She was wearing the winter outfit that she had purchased from Oaken several months ago, and carrying a leather purse. "Hey! Kristoff!" She called out.

Her boyfriend was leaning against the railings of the bridge that connect the castle to the town. He grinned and stood up when he saw Anna. "Finally! Alright, are you ready _now?_"

Anna settled down into a brisk walk before reaching Kristoff. She stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Yes, I am! Hair done, nice outfit on, got my purse, the works. Geez, you make it seem like I took such a long time." Anna laughed.

Kristoff made a serious face, and raised an eyebrow. "It has been _an entire hour already._ You've been going in and out of the palace changing your clothes and your hairstyle and you look _exactly_ the same as before."

"Nah, I got a purse this time!" Anna lifted her purse, displaying it to Kristoff."

"That hardly counts. We could- we _should _have left for the marketplace and gotten back by now."

"Pfft. You really need to learn how to slow down and enjoy the little things in life." Anna flippantly replied, rolling her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure no one is supposed to spend over an hour choosing an outfit and doing their hair." Kristoff crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow again, grinning once more.

"I actually have a cousin who used to spend over 6 hours a day combing and washing her 70 feet of magical hair or something… Long story." Anna waved her hand dismissively. "But hey, I'm a girl. Girls do things that guys like you never do. Picking out a nice outfit, getting your hair to look great, making sure you _don't smell like a reindeer..._" She meant the last remark jokingly; it was something that Kristoff was a little sensitive about sometimes.

His grin dropped. "...OK, I didn't really mind those first two comments, but that last one actually hurt a bit."

"But you admit that I'm right!"

"What?"

"Right about you. About guys in general, actually. How you guys don't do girl stuff. Wait, no, of course you wouldn't. Because you're not girls. Wait, but… Yeah, that's pretty clear, actually. I'm right. Right about what I meant. I don't think there was anything else I could've meant. You know what I mean? " Anna rambled.

"...No. No I don't." Kristoff said with a blank face.

" Ah, whatever. Anyway, you're one to talk. About. About clothes and hair. Not that you're one to talk about as in someone people talk about although they actually probably _do._"

"Is that so?" Eyebrow lift _again._

"Kristoff, you are a mountain man and ice harvester who was raised by trolls and talks to his reindeer and is _also _dating the Princess of Arendelle. So yes, I think that people would talk about you..." Anna stopped and thought about that for a moment. "...Which isn't that comforting of a thought since if they about you, they talk about _me_, and I'm not too sure if I like that."

"No, I mean, I'm one to talk? About clothes and hair?" Kristoff clarified with an air of mild disbelief.

"Oh. Yup! I mean, c'mon, you're wearing those..." Anna flapped her hands in his general

direction. "...ugly plain grey… _things_ again-"

"What? These are my winter clothes. It's _cold_. _I wear these all the time now-_"

"Your hair looks ridiculous-"

"I think I look rather dashing with tousled hair-"

For the sake of argument, Anna kept herself from verbally agreeing with him.

"And you still smell like you sleep in the stables next to Sven." She concluded.

"That is so unfair."

"Hey, I take the effort to look and _smell_ nice every day, so you should too!" Anna reasoned with a shrug of her shoulders.

"That's because you're a princess! Everyone expects you to too look pretty all the time and have not messy hair and to smell nice and-"

"HAHA! See? You admit I was right! You just _reputed_- no, wait, _refuted _yourself!" She jabbed a finger at Kristoff.

"What?"

"First you say no one is supposed to spend some of their time making sure they look absolutely _gorgeous_ like me, you know, and then you say that I have to do exactly that because I'm a princess!"

Here came the infamous Kristoff eyebrow lift again. He really did do that way too often. "You are twisting my words."

"No I'm not!"

"Twisting them like an ice screw."

"Nope."

"Yes."

"Nope."

"Yes."

"Nope."

"Ye- Alright, this is silly. Back on topic. Are you ready yet?" Kristoff questioned her once more.

"Um, _yeah,_ I thought we covered that already. Clothes, hair, purse, _personal smell…_"

"..."

"Fine, I'll stop. Spoilsport." Anna pouted.

"_Thank you._ But seriously, did you actually bring any, oh, I don't know… _money_? Because honestly, you did say there was this special something that you _insisted_ you wanted to buy by yourself."

"...Wait, lemme check…" Anna opened her purse and rummaged inside it, but she already know the answer. "...Shoot! I knew I forgot something!"

"_AUGH..._" Kristoff groaned, walking in a circle with his hands on his head.

"Chill out Kristoff, I just need to go find Elsa. This'll only take, like, 10 more minutes. Hold this for me, will you?" She tossed him her purse. "I'll be right back."

* * *

Anna rushed back through the palace gates and into the courtyard. The ice rink that Elsa had created several weeks ago still dominated the area, but she'd been unable to teach Anna (as well as most of the staff) the finer aspects of ice skating. Admittedly, the rink did make travel across the courtyard faster, but only if you could manage to stay on your two feet as you skated across it. Or, in Anna's case, as she awkwardly slipped and slid. Many were the times when she'd fallen over and been unable to get back up without help.

Anna was more than a bit miffed at her inability to be neither a natural nor quick-learning skater. After all, she'd been sliding around on the polished wooden floors of the castle for years. The general concepts between the two couldn't be that different. Sure, ice was sorta more slippery, and you had to manage to balance on thin blades of metal if you wanted to actually really _skate_ instead of slide around, but still. She was also a bit confused as to where Elsa had learned to skate in the first place. Maybe she'd

iced the floor of her room over before and taught herself during her 13 years of isolation. Or perhaps it was just something that came with her icy powers; just an affinity for anything snow/ice related.

Anna managed to make her way over to one of the frozen fountains in the middle of the ice, and held onto it for support. After a few seconds of regaining her footing, she carefully pushed herself off in the general direction of the stairs in front of the entrance hall doors.

The doors opened, and Kai stepped out, holding a stack of documents. The portly servant was a rather proficient skater, and enjoyed showing it off. Seeing Anna pin wheeling her arms while trying not to fall over, he walked down the stairs, balanced the documents on one hand like a waiter, and gracefully glided across the ice to meet her.

"Princess Anna," he said, bowing while still balancing the papers. "Would you like some assistance?"

"Um, yeah, thanks," Anna quickly said as she grabbed on to Kai's shoulder for support. The servant put his free arm around her back and glided back towards the doors, bringing the princess with him. She quickly stepped off the ice and onto the solid non-slipperiness of the stairs.

"Thank you, Kai," Anna said as she sheepishly grinned. Kai smiled in return and bowed his head.

"Back from your trip to the market already, I see. Did you get what you wanted?"

"Oh… Actually, I haven't left for there yet," Anna's said casually. Kai raised an eyebrow.

"What? Have you been living in a cave?" Anna joked. "Didn't you see me running around this place for the entire past hour?"

"As a matter of fact, I've been in your sister's office assisting her with some of her work. So no, I haven't."

"Ah. Close enough, I suppose. Well, I had to change into some more proper clothes and, um, do my hair, and, um… huh..." She petered off, her face beginning to turn into a brilliant shade of crimson as she realized the mild absurdity of her situation. Maybe Kristoff was right. She looked down at her shoes. Kai raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Money!" Anna suddenly exclaimed, looking back up, redness of face somehow almost completely gone. "Yeah, I also need to get some money from Elsa. Cause, heh, you know, she confisca- um, put it away for safekeeping or something after the last time I went shopping," Anna suddenly said, and chuckled awkwardly. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, something she unconsciously did whenever she was feeling nervous and very awkward. "I don't know why she would do something strange like that…"

"If memory serves me correctly, it was because you spent over a hundred on several pounds of chocolate," Kai said with an completely and utterly straight face. "Forgive me for saying so, but I do think that that may not have been the wisest thing to have invested your money in."

Anna's jaw dropped in disbelief. She couldn't believe that _Kai_ of all people was chastising her for that. Besides, that had been weeks ago! "Hey! In my defense, most of it was a gift for the cooks! To make more chocolate based food! For everyone! Pfft, I mean, not just for me! It's not like I was going to eat all! Sure, I'd like to try, but-"

She broke off abruptly when she noticed that the ends of Kai's mouth were now ever so slightly turned up. He was just fooling around with her.

"Oh. You're fooling around with me, aren't you?" Anna voiced exactly what she thought flatly.

"Of course, m'lady," Kai bowed again, still smiling. "Whatever you say."

"Yes, well, um... do you know where I can find Elsa?" Anna decided to change to subject a bit. Kai may have been joking, but that didn't make the previous subject of discussion any less embarrassing and awkward.

"Well, like I said, I was just helping her with some of her work. She wanted me to deliver these papers to one of the council members, which is why I'm out here. She should still be in her office." Kai looked thoughtful. "However, she did say something about taking a short break from her paperwork, so she may have left the room. If you hurry, though, you might catch her."

"Ah, okay. Thanks, Kai." Anna said, walking through the doors and grabbing them to shut them.

Kai bowed again, for the third time. "I am your servant, as always."

Anna closed the doors, leaving Kai outside. He looked at the great wooden doors, listening to the faint sounds of Anna's a young adult, the princess still acted much like a child sometimes.

Heaven knew that her sister was certainly mature enough for both of them, though.

Kai's grin returned, and he quietly chuckled before turning and skating elegantly across the courtyard.

* * *

Anna half ran half slid down the halls of the palace, something she had honed to an art after over a decade of doing it. She hummed a little tune to herself, part of a song that she had written when she was much younger in order to try to get Elsa out of her room and play with her. Elsa never did come out of course. A month or two ago, Elsa had told Anna that she would really want to, but couldn't/wouldn't due to various issues all revolving around her hidden powers. She also told her that whenever Anna sang it, she often ended up sobbing into her pillow for hours, the fact of which kind of bummed out Anna.

She had gone on a relentless yet sincere tirade explaining how absolutely _sorry _she was and how she didn't _know _that it would have made Elsa feel like that and that she hadn't _meant _to make her sister cry several times each week and so on and so forth. She almost hadn't noticed Elsa's reassuring (if more than a little bit uncomfortable) smile that meant that everything was alright.

Actually, she hadn't noticed at all. Elsa had had to grab her by the shoulders and speak firmly and directly in her face, telling her that it was all in the past and she had gotten over it already and that yes, she had liked the song even if it had made her cry a lot.

Stopping in front of her sister's office, she rhythmically knocked on the door before speaking. However, with her song still playing in her head, she ended up messing up her speech.

"Hey Elsa, do you want to build a - wait, no, sorry, I didn't - that's not what I meant to say."Anna

cleared her throat and tried again. "I - um, is it alright if I come in?"

She waited for a moment, but heard no answer. She knocked on the door again normally.

"Hello, Elsa, you in there?" She pressed her ear up against the door, listening for any signs that someone was inside. She heard nothing.

She grabbed the door knob and slowly opened the door, peeking her head in with an "Elsa?" But there was no one inside.

Anna pushed the door open all the way and stepped inside. She shivered a bit as she became exposed to the icy air that had been behind the door. Elsa's office was a relatively small room compared to the other rooms in the castle. The entire room was covered in a tint of blue; a light frost was spread across the walls and ceiling. In the back of the room was a large triangular window. It was wide open, wind gusting through and blowing icy air in Anna's general direction.

Most of Elsa's furniture in her office was made out of misty ice. A large icy desk dominated the back of the small room, with icy bookshelves lining the sides and icy chairs to sit on. A snowflake shaped pendulum clock hung above the door, ticking and tocking. Large decorative snowflakes hovered below the ceiling, gently spinning, and a mini-chandelier similar to the one that had been in her ice palace hung down from above as well. The entire formatting of the place was completely symmetrical.

_At least the floor isn't ice._ Anna thought. Wooden floorboards made up the floor, although they were covered in a thin layer of frost as well. She strode over to the desk, looking at the huge piles of paperwork scattered about it. The papers fluttered in the wind. She suddenly felt very thankful that she wasn't the queen, if it meant that she was spared the fate of having to go through all of those documents.

Amongst the papers were a dip pen and a surprisingly not frozen over ink well, a small mirror made of reflective ice, and a glowing snowball hovering over a stand of ice that seemed to substitute for a candle or lamp. She recognized it as one of the magical kind that could cause a fall of possibly infinite snow when Elsa launched them into the air.

There was also a snow globe (custom-made by Elsa, it seemed) showing mini ice-sculptures of Anna and Elsa as young children building a snowman that looked suspiciously like Olaf, encased in a sphere of transparent ice. Infinite snow also rained down from the top, yet never seemed to pile up on the bottom. Anna picked it up, feeling the coolness of the ice under her fingers as she looked at the detailed figurines. D'aaaaw, the two of them had looked so _cute _when they were kids!

She put the globe back in its place and started to scan various sheets of papers. Most of them were trade agreements and business letters, with a few personal items scattered here and there. She picked up a half-written letter meant for the ruling family of Corona, and looked at Elsa's writing without actually reading it. Elsa's tiny script was impeccable, as usual. Thin, fluid cursive with long loops and decorative curls that may or may not have been larger than the actual letters that they belonged to. When compared to Anna's own large, messy scribbles that Elsa blatantly refused to call words, it was clear that their penmanship reflected their individual personalities.

Anna placed the letter back down and absentmindedly looked around the room. Since Elsa wasn't in there, she wondered if she should stay and wait for her to return, or to leave and go look for her. She decided to get out, since it was too cold in there for her liking. Also, if she remained in Elsa's office, she would probably end up somehow making a mess or start looking through some of Elsa's more personal stuff, which never ended well.

She walked back through the door and pulled it shut behind her, feeling a final puff of cold air as it closed. Looking up and down the hall, she briefly thought about where Elsa could have gone.

_Probably the library. She likes the quietness there._ Anna figured. She strode down the hall in the path that would eventually lead her to the library.

* * *

The doors to the library were already open, and Anna could hear someone inside. Walking in, she looked around for whoever Elsa was in there. She found Gerda dusting and cleaning some bookshelves.

"Hey Gerda," Anna casually greeted her, still turning her head back and forth looking for any signs of Elsa.

"Ah, m'lady," Gerda replied, performing a small curtsy. "Home already, it seems. Did you get what you wanted?"

Anna opened her mouth to explain to her than she hadn't actually left yet because of hair and clothes and everything Elsa, but then remembered how awkwardly that discussion had gone with Kai.

"Um… not really, it's a long story." She simply said instead. "Listen, um, has Elsa been in here? Have you seen her recently? I need to talk to her."

"No, I can't say she has. Although I did see her pass by." Gerda jabbed her thumb in the direction of the door. "She was heading in the general direction of the kitchens."

"The kitchens?" Anna's brow furrowed. What could Elsa want in the kitchens? Maybe she was just a bit peckish, she supposed.

"Yes, the kitchens. Funny thing, when she saw me, she asked if you were home yet. Seems like she looking for you as well."

"Or maybe looking _out_ for me." Anna joked. "Well, thanks for the info. Guess I'll head down to the kitchens now."

Gerda smiled and nodded. She raised a hand in parting as Anna stepped back out of the library to continue her search for Elsa.

* * *

Several minutes later, Anna had still not found Elsa. She'd been down to the kitchens, but the cooks and servants there swore that they had not seen her enter. She gone looking in the ballroom, the throne room, and their bedrooms, but she was nowhere.

Throwing her hands in the air in frustration, Anna decided to go back to Elsa's office and look around to see if there was any money in the- to wait for Elsa's return. She retraced her steps back the way she came, heading up a set or two of stairs and down several hallways.

She was rounding a corner near the library when she heard conversation. She stopped for a moment and listened closely. It sounded like Gerda and… _Elsa!_ She'd recognize that regal voice anywhere! Haha, she'd finally caught up with her!

"...home now. She asked where you were, and I sent her in the direction of the kitchens. She should be somewhere in their general vicinity."

"I see… Thank you Gerda, that will be all."

"Very well, your highness… Oh, apologies for asking, but is that?..."

"What? This? Oh, no, of course not…"

Anna heard footsteps, indicated that Elsa was exiting the library. The footsteps stopped, and Elsa spoke again.

"Oh, and Gerda?"

"Yes, your highness?"

"If you see Anna again… Tell her that you didn't see me."

"...Very well, your highness."

The footsteps resumed. Anna ducked back behind the corner, thinking. Was Elsa trying to avoid her? Why would she do that? Her own previous joke about Elsa being on the lookout for her suddenly seemed a lot less like a joke and more like reality.

The footsteps tapered off. Anna peered around the corner and saw Elsa disappear around her own. She quietly walked forward. Passing the open library doors, she saw Gerda and gave her a questioning look. Gerda simply shrugged.

Anna continued on trailing after Elsa, and walked around the corner. She could see Elsa again now. She looked the same as always; ice dress, ice heels, single French braid over her shoulder, and so on and so forth. She'd decided to keep her 'Snow Queen' look even after the Great Thaw, although she had agreed to make minor adjustments to her dress to make it more... appropriate for one her station.

She seemed to be carrying something in her hands; probably the item mentioned during her discussion with Gerda. But with her back to Anna, she couldn't tell what it was.

For the next minute or so, Anna stealthy followed Elsa. They seemed to be heading back to Elsa's office. Servants passed them by several times, each of them greeting Elsa and continuing on their way. But when they would see Anna, she would quickly press a finger up against her lips, warning them not to alert Elsa to her presence. The servants would grin knowingly, and stay silent.

A few times, Elsa would pause in her walking, and turn around, survey the hallway behind her. Perhaps she had heard Anna's footsteps those times. But with her pause, Anna was always given enough time to duck behind a large potted plant or a suit of armor or anything that might provide cover. Elsa never saw her, but allowed Anna a clear view of what she was holding; a silver box of some sort. It looked vaguely familiar, but Anna couldn't quite place her finger on it.

Was the box the reason why Elsa didn't want Anna to know where she was? What was she hiding from her? Maybe Anna was just being paranoid.

Or maybe not. Elsa was certainly acting sneaky and suspicious enough to warrant that she was hiding something from Anna. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Elsa's conversation with Gerda, her frequent checks to see if anyone was following her, the fact that she visibly looked rather nervous when none of the servants were around to see her like that.

Yes, her sister was _definitely_ hiding something; that much was totally undeniable now (_Well that escalated quickly_)! Anna felt a twinge of annoyance. Her sister had already kept secrets from her for 13 years, and was doing it again.

Well, not anymore! Anna honestly didn't care what Elsa could be hiding. She had to find out. Besides, they'd discussed this before. Elsa had promised that she wouldn't keep any secrets from Anna anymore, seeing how doing so had previously turned out. Yet here she was, acting all suspicious and sneaky and very obviously keeping a secret to herself.

Still trailing Elsa, Anna thought about what could possibly be in the container. Perhaps it held some cool pieces of jewelry and makeup! She'd seen Elsa use makeup before; in fact, she still did. But then why would she hide it from Anna? Maybe it was their mother's jewelry, then?

Maybe there were important and mysterious things that Elsa didn't think Anna was responsible enough to know about! Old relics or family heirlooms? Gerda had sounded like she might have recognized the box, so that would make sense. Or maybe it contained artifacts from the Trolls?

Or perhaps that was where Elsa hid the money! Anna's money, anyway. Which didn't make much sense, since technically her money was Elsa's money and Elsa's money was her money and there was no way all of it could've fit in that small of a box in the first place.

Hey, maybe it was a gift from a _guy_! A suitor! Although Anna was pretty sure that none of them had turned up in the castle recently. Or ever, really. Elsa's ice powers still freaked some people out. Maybe it was just a friendly gift from a neighboring kingdom. Or maybe… Maybe it was a present from a boyfriend!

Anna giggled silently to herself as she contemplated the idea of Elsa having a secret boyfriend. It was hard to picture Elsa liking a guy romantically. That would be so un-Elsa like. Frankly, she was a bit too anti-social and distant and had too many problems for that kind of thing at the moment; you couldn't shut yourself away from everyone for 13 years without giving yourself some personal and people skills issues that you could easily solve in 6 months. But it would also be exactly the kind of thing that Elsa wouldn't want Anna to learn if it did end up happening.

Anna realized that they were nearing Elsa's office. Elsa had just rounded a corner, where on the other side Anna knew her office to be. Anna stopped as she reached the corner herself, and peeked around it. Elsa was standing in front of her office door, motionless. She then grabbed the door handle and paused again, as if giving a brief moment's thought. She quickly looked up and down the hall, but Anna had pulled her head back around the corner first. After a moment, Anna heard the door open, Elsa's dress rustle and she walked in, and the door close.

Anna got out from behind her hiding spot after several seconds, making sure that Elsa wouldn't come out. She then walked towards the office door, pausing and crouching in front of it. She pressed her ear against the keyhole, listening for any clues as to what Elsa was doing inside. She heard nothing, so she turned her head and tried peeking through the keyhole this time. But all she could see was the front of Elsa's desk.

Anna stood up. She grabbed the door handle, debating whether to make a loud, dramatic entrance or to quietly sneak in. She decided on the latter. She silently twisted the handle and opened the door, and gently stepped inside the office, not bothering to close the door behind her.

Elsa was lounging in a chair, tilted backwards so that it was balanced on two legs with its back leaning against the wall under the window.. Her feet were up on her desk, where several stacks of papers had been moved to the side. Her eyes were closed, with her left hand behind her head and her right picking something out of what she now recognized to be a _very familiar_ silver candy box resting on the table. And she was _smiling._

As Anna watched, Elsa opened her mouth and lifted the piece of something over it. Anna then came to a sudden and unwelcome realization.

_"Are those my chocolates?!"_

Elsa's eyes shot wide open, and she dropped the piece of chocolate. Snowflakes sprayed out from her hands, and Anna could feel the temperature suddenly drop. Elsa's expression had instantly become one of alarm, and she let out a shocked "Wha-" while trying to stand up. However, with her feet up on the desk and the chair already balanced in a precarious position, it ended up toppling over with Elsa still on it. She gave an undignified and unqueenly yelp before hitting the floor. Anna saw the piece of chocolate roll off across the room into a corner.

It took Elsa a few seconds to untangle herself from the chair. She stood up, put the chair back into its proper position, and briefly brushed down her now-wrinkled dress before addressing the situation. Anna wondered if she would still maintain her calm and queenly facade, even in the face of, well, whatever this was.

"Oh! Anna! Hi… " Elsa spoke with a flushed face, the red standing out in stark contrast against her typically pale skin. Her eyes were darting back and forth between Anna, the candy box sitting on her table, and the fallen chair. Anna crossed her arms and scowled, and looked at her sister sternly. "I, um, I didn't notice you come in…" Elsa continued.

Wow. Apparently if she was startled enough, then Elsa would become an actual normal human being.

"_What_ are you doing with _my_ chocolate?" She gestured wildly at the silver candy box. It was what she used to contain her personal/emergency stash of chocolate, which she would leave in plain sight in the art room under the impression that no one would ever be bold enough to steal some from her. Apparently she was wrong.

"I- Um, nothing. Absolutely nothing. I - er - nothing." Elsa straightened her back and cleared her throat. Her startled expression was starting to disappear, being replaced by a more neutral yet regal one. The air was now not so cold as before. Her queenly self, her calm and collected self, was beginning to take control once more and salvage the situation for her.

_Not on my watch_.

Elsa opened her mouth to continue to speak. Anna butted in first.

"You are _eating_ my _chocolate_! _My_ _chocolate_! Who gave you the right to do that?" Anna yelled. Surprisingly enough, Elsa flinched and became flustered once more. Anna figured that she wasn't very used to her younger sister yelling at her and wielding more authority in any given situation.

Anna herself couldn't really tell if she was actually angry at Elsa, or really annoyed, or just enjoyed the feeling of sheer power she got when she yelled at her. Yelled at her older sister. The Queen of Arendelle. The one who was always the perfect girl and never screwed anything over and was always the one who yelled at Anna whenever she messed something up. Talk about a complete reversal of roles.

Anna decided that the power was _amazing. _But not as much as chocolate.

"Why - Why are you even - I- you - I thought you were out with Kristoff!"

Elsa's speech was starting to dissolve now. She was stuttering badly like Anna would whenever _she_ was caught in an awkward situation. A little something else that the two had in common.

"And you decided to take that opportunity to pillage my personal chocolate stash?" Anna walked over and snatched up the silver box with a possibly not-so-angry flourish. Unfortunately, she'd momentarily forgotten that the lid was off, and so multiple pieces of chocolate flew out and tumbled around the room. She pretended not to notice. Elsa did, and her eyes briefly followed the arcing path of a piece soaring through the air before snapping back to Anna.

Elsa waved her hands in front of herself. "L- Look, this- this isn't what it looks like!" She protested.

Anna glared at Elsa even harder. Her older sister seemed to cringe even more under Anna's gaze.

_I feel so POWERFUL._

"...Okay, maybe it is." Elsa admitted, looking down at her feet.

Anna sighed and turned away, as if upset and mad and disappointed. In reality, she took this chance to get her expression and emotions under control. It was harder than it seemed for her to be mad at Elsa like this. Especially over something as insignificant as grand theft chocolate.

_Wait, chocolate? Insignificant? I must be going crazy._ Anna thought to herself.

But Elsa seemed to think that what she'd done was maybe a big deal, due to how she was seeing Anna react. Anna had actually been in danger of bursting out laughing and giggling at seeing Elsa's severe uncomfortableness. She was acting just like a young child who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Or a queen with her hand caught in the candy box.

Anna let herself grin wildly for a few moments to release some of the urge to do so in Elsa's face, before putting on a mask of seriousness once more. She turned back to Elsa, who was still busy staring at her own feet..

"Explain." Anna commanded in her best Queen Elsa imitation that she could conjure up while trying not to laugh. A flat yet regal tone full of power that said that she was _royalty_ and that if she didn't get a satisfactory answer right that second, _heads would roll_. She tried to model it after the way she'd hear Elsa talk to very frustrating council members during very frustrating meetings, which was often. The fact that Anna would typically find herself was at the business end of it even more often provided some more base material.

She hadn't been able to practice her pulling-the-royal-authority-card attitude very often on anyone (except sorta jokingly for Kristoff, who never took it too seriously anyway). And she'd certainly never imagined that she'd have to use it on her own sister, the very poster child of… well, of that kind of stuff that royal authority was about.

Technically, since Elsa was queen and higher in rank than Anna, it shouldn't really work. But Anna was willing to try.

"...I was just in the mood for some chocolate, is all." Elsa muttered. "Doing all this paperwork can really get to someone."

Oh hey, it worked.

"Why'd you have to grab my emergency stash, them? You couldn't have gotten some from the kitchen or something?" Anna questioned.

"I suppose I could've, but the kind they generally keep there is just so… _plain_, I guess." Elsa made a face.

"Plain?" Anna could safely say that she had no idea what Elsa was talking about. All the chocolate that she'd ever eaten had never been anything short of heavenly.

Elsa quietly groaned and placed her face in her hands for several moments. "Sorry, I… Well, I'm not exactly a chocolate connoisseur, you know. I mean, you know I enjoy chocolate as much as you do, but I don't exactly know what quality chocolate is like. I just, you know, eat what I can get. Chocolate is chocolate for me."

"But you," Elsa continued, "You know what good chocolate is like and what it isn't like. You only take the stuff that you deem is high enough quality for you." Anna opened her mouth to protest, but Elsa put up a hand. "No, don't deny it. I've seen you dig around in entire cases full of chocolate, looking for that one piece that tastes better than all the others. I don't know how you do it-"

"It's called intuition." Anna interjected with her arms crossed. "And I don't see what this has to do with you looting my stash."

"I was getting there." Elsa sounded a tiny bit annoyed that she'd been interrupted. Anna's intimidation over her was starting to wear off. Elsa paused for several moments, collecting her thoughts and figuring how to voice them. "Well then, I've always known you've had your own personal chocolate stash. That was never exactly secret information. I've also known that you tend to keep the really, _really_ good chocolate in it for a rainy day..."

"And?..." Anna prompted.

"Well, like I said before, I was in the mood for some chocolate, but something different. Seriously, do you know what the chocolate you can normally get from the kitchens tastes like? Admittedly, it's ok, but if it's the only type that you eat for years on end… You get sick of it. The fact that most of it are the remains of those several pounds you bought last month doesn't help." Anna rolled her eyes. Elsa made another more disgusted face. "Seriously, is it even possible for chocolate to get _stale_? Because that's what that chocolate's like now. So, anyway, I… well, I decided to take some of yours."

"So… You stole my chocolate because you knew it would be much higher quality than anything you could've normally gotten." Anna thought about that for a moment. "That's sort of flattering… Alright, I don't think I've actually too mad at you… But it was _my_ chocolate! Couldn't you have, you know, asked?"

"You weren't around… You were out shopping." Elsa protested. "Well, I thought you were, anyway. But that obviously isn't true. And… Emergency stash! This was an emergency! I've had to go over _this_ much paperwork today so far!" She held her left palm two or three inches over her right as she said that. "Do you have any idea how wiped I get when I do that much?"

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I suppose that that all makes it totally fine for you to take my chocolate without my permission." Anna said sarcastically. She then came to a sudden realization. "Heeey… If you've always known that I had a stash and where I kept it… And I've been out of the palace before… I've seen you do more work than this in the past… _How many times have you done this before without telling me?_" Anna yelled the last part in horror.

Elsa blinked. "Uh…"

"...I can't tell if your inability to answer is a good or bad thing. Please let it be a good thing." Anna looked down at the candy box, gauging the depth of the chocolate still left in it. She started to crawl around on the frosty floor, picking up the scattered pieces of chocolate and placing them back in the box.

"Ugh, Anna, those have been on the ground. They can't possibly still be clean." Elsa said in disgust, breaking out of her stupor. Anna looked up at her.

"Your room is completely coated in ice and frost. I find it hard to believe that it could end up being too filthy in here." She picked up a piece and inspected it for show. "Yup, looks clean enough to me. Besides, like you said, this is the _high quality_ stuff. I can hardly let it go to waste, can I? Anyway, you still haven't answered my question."

Elsa ran her fingers through her hair, looking very nervous all of a sudden. "...I'm not too sure how wise it would be to tell you."

"Oooh, now I _know_ it can't be good." Anna felt a sense of dread build inside her.

"...Let me put it this way; I reserve the right to see my lawyer."

Anna picked up the final piece of fallen chocolate and placed it in the box. She looked at how full it was; the chocolate barely filled up half way. Last time she had checked, it had been almost full.

"..._Elsa_…"

"Lawyer. I want my lawyer."

"I'm sure you've studied enough law yourself to act as your own lawyer... Ugh, you are _so _dead." Anna grabbed the lid of the candy box and placed it back on, closing it. "I knew I should've hidden this somewhere instead of leaving it out in the open. Hmph. You know what? No chocolate for you. Ever again. Go live off the plain stuff in the kitchen."

Elsa dramatically flung her arm across her forehead, slightly leaning backwards. "Oh dear, whatever shall I do? Death by chocolate withdrawal! What a cruel fate!" She spoke in an exaggerated voice. Anna sniggered, before stopping herself and giving Elsa a sharp look.

"Was that an attempt to be funny?"

"I was aiming more towards sarcastic, but funny works too."

"Well stoppit, I'm supposed to be mad at you right now. You ate half of my chocolates. Don't make me laugh."

"Aw, I thought you said you weren't mad at me at all?"

"...No, I said I wasn't mad at you _too_ much. But still a bit."

Elsa laughed a bit, and smiled. "Alright, very well… I do apologize, if that helps."

"But are you sorry? Cause if you're not, you will be once I'm done with you." Anna threatened not so jokingly.

"I quake in fear."

"No. Sarcasm is my thing. Not yours."

"Wait, so what I said 10 seconds ago doesn't count as sarcasm?"

"Nope, that was more like… acting. Being funny. Or something." Anna flicked her hand dismissively. "Not sarcasm."

"Bah." Elsa through her hands in the air and walked in a circle, before stopping and facing Anna again. "What are _you_ still doing here anyway? You're supposed to be at the marketplace with Kristoff, aren't you?" Elsa asked.

Anna flicked her hand again. "Long story short, I got held up doing my hair and stuff, and I forgot to get some money so I came here to get some from you. Cause, you know, you _hid it all from me_."

"And with good reason, too."

Anna huffed. "Anyway, I spend _forever_ looking around for you, and finally catch your trail at the library. Been following you ever since."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"You were acting like you didn't want to see me. Like you were _hiding_ something. And you were! I follow you all the way back here, and enter to find you about to stuff your face with my chocolates."

"Yes, well… Not very gentlemanly of Kristoff to not offer to buy whatever you want for you." Elsa said with a small smile.

"Changing the subject, I see." Anna scoffed. "Fine, be that way. He did offer, but there's something that I wanted to buy by myself… It's a gift for someone. Wouldn't be the same if someone else bought it for me." Anna said dismissively.

"A gift? For whom?" Elsa sounded genuinely curious.

"Why, aren't we nosey today." Anna wagged a finger and made a few 'tsk' sounds. "Well, if you must know, I was planning to buy some chocolate for the one and only _you_, since I know that you don't have your own special chocolate to eat and whatever. But, you know, seeing how you've been actively taking chocolate from my own personal stash… Maybe I won't now." Anna chucked a tad bit maliciously.

"...If that's supposed to be a joke, it's not very funny."

"No, I'm being serious here! There's this new place that sells the most _amazing_ chocolate _everything. _Best chocolate I've ever tasted before. Ever. I was gonna buy, oh, maybe this much worth of chocolate-" Anna rattled the candy box. "-all for _you_. Did you know-"

Elsa raised an eyebrow and slightly frowned. "Teasing me with more chocolate after I've taken yours? Don't be mean, Anna."

"Fine, fine, I'm joking. You can be such a killjoy sometimes. Can't blame me for trying to mess with you, though. I really am going to buy some chocolate though, but for Kristoff. Can you believe that he has actually _never_ eaten chocolate before in his entire life? That has to be a crime or something. Don't tell him, by the way. It's a secret. He thinks it's actually a gift for you. He's gonna be so surprised. I am going to open up a _whole_ new world to him; the world of _chocolate._"

"That's certainly sweet of you," Elsa commented.

"Girl, I am the _definition _of sweet. I am the sweetest person _alive_." Anna pointed at her strawberry-blonde hair. "See this? It tastes like _strawberries_."

"Ew. What kind of shampoo do you _use?_" Elsa made a face yet again. She'd been doing that a lot today.

"That was a joke, Elsa. I wasn't being serious." Anna said, facepalming. Her sister could be so… _fail_ with humor sometimes.

"That was a joke too." Elsa retorted.

"...Yes, I knew that." Anna tried to cover up her moment of humor fail. "I was, um, joking again when I said that."

"Uh huh…"

Then there was an awkward silence as both sisters were unable to find something to say.

"So, uh… Money?" Anna eventually piped up.

"What? Oh, yes, um…" Elsa looked around the room. "I probably have some in here somewhere…" She bent down and opened several drawers that were a part of her desk. After several seconds, she took out a small purse that jingled with the sound of coins. She closed the drawers and tossed the purse to Anna, who caught it but dropped the candy box in surprise. It clattered to the ground noisily.

"There you go, knock yourself out."

"I hope you don't mean literally." Anna said while bending down to pick up the dropped candy box.

"No, but knowing you, you'll probably end up falling down the stairs and hitting your head or something." Elsa said with a wry smile.

"Hmph." Anna put the candy box back on the desk, and tossed the purse in the air several times. It was sorta hefty. Exactly how much money was in it? She opened the purse and peeked inside. "Whoa, there's like over a hundred in here! You're really trusting me with that much after what happened last time?" Anna paused and thought about what she just said. "Not that I'm untrustworthy or anything like that. I'm totally responsible. It's just that-"

Elsa broke in before she could start rambling too much. "Think of it as… compensation. For me eating half of your chocolates without your knowledge. Just don't waste it all."

Anna beamed. "Really? Wow, thanks! This is a lot more than I needed. I think I'm gonna buy some extra stuff. Wait, hear me out first." She quickly said as when saw Elsa open her mouth in protest. "I'm not going to splurge it all (I'm going to try not to, anyway). I'm gonna buy some extra special chocolates to refill this-" she gestured at the silver candy box "-since you _did_ drain it. A lot. And I think I'm going to buy some carrots for Sven… Sven and Kristoff, rather. An extra gift for them."

Elsa bobbed her head slowly, listening. "Sounds fine…"

"And I'm also starting to consider buying some chocolates for _you_."

Elsa froze and stared at Anna. "You wouldn't dare."

"...I don't think that's how people are supposed to typically respond when they're going to get a present."

"You know perfectly well where I'm coming from. You can be so evil sometimes, Anna."

"Heh heh, yes I can. Let you stew in your own guilt, knowing that even after your steal your sister's precious chocolates, she still has the heart to get you some more." She smiled widely and innocently at Elsa.

"This is for your own personal enjoyment, isn't it." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Of course it is. I'm doing this all for me. Besides, if you have your own chocolates, you won't need to take mine." Anna reasoned.

"I realize it's a bit late in the conversation to bring this up, but there's something called sharing."

"And I'm sharing my knowledge of quality chocolates with you! And Kristoff!"

"Anna, it's one thing to share, and it's another to purposely guilt-trip someone under the pretense of sharing."

"Yes, well… That's beside the point." Anna looked at the clock behind her. "Changing the subject yet again, I should probably get going. I told Kristoff I'd only be 10 minutes, but it's been like 20 already."

"That's fine, but I'm still not going to willingly accept any chocolates you buy me."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I do have a little something that I think you rather deserve more than chocolates."

"And what would that be?"

Ana said nothing, but swiftly placed the purse of coins on the desk, grabbed the glowing snowball lamp thing, and promptly threw it in Elsa's face. It exploded in a shower of snow, and a light snowfall immediately began over Elsa's head. She stumbled backwards and hit the wall, sputtering and wiping the snow from her face.

"You. Me. The gardens. Two hours. Make it snow if there's not enough. There's more from where that came from." Anna said, pointing at the two of them at turn and then sticking up two fingers. "Oh, and, um, pun not intended. Anyway, I'm letting you off relatively light, considering."

Elsa blanched; snowball fights were the one snow related activity that she was no good at and Anna simply dominated at.

"Is it too late to say I'm sorry now?" She asked timidly.

"No. But quite frankly, at this point I couldn't care less." Anna grinned widely. "Two hours to settle your affairs. Better get your will in order too. Cause you are going _down_."

And before Elsa could think up a witty retort, Anna turned on her heels and walked out of the

room, closing the door behind her with a "_Two hours!_" Elsa stared at the door, mind whirling.

Then the door abruptly slammed back open, making Elsa jump, and Anna stiffly walked in, snatching the silver candy box and muttering something about her ruined dramatic exit before walking back out and closing the door again.

* * *

That had been the longest conversation/argument/witty repartee Elsa had had with Anna in a _long_ time.

But that didn't necessarily mean said conversation/argument/witty repartee was a good one.

Elsa continued to stare at the door for several moments, before she started raking her fingers through her hair and taking deep breaths. The implications and consequences of what had just happened were starting to set in; and along with them, panic.

Oh dear heavens. She had only two hours to finish the rest of her work. She should've told Anna that she still had so much paperwork to do and wouldn't have any time at all to have a snowball fight with her. But knowing her sister, she probably would've brushed it off and told her that having her fall behind on her paperwork was part of her retribution.

So… Two hours to do what work she could. The next hour or so after that would be spent getting pelted by snowballs, and the rest of the day (and night) hiding in her room nursing her fresh battle wounds and new psychological scars. Or worse.

Maybe she should take Anna on about her advice to prepare her will.

Elsa closed her eyes and took several more deep breaths, willing herself to calm down. Opening her eyes, she sighed and sat down on her chair, leaning forward onto the desk. She waved a hand to make it stop snowing over her head. Then she grabbed the pen and a sheet of blank parchment, and chewed on the end of the pen thoughtfully before beginning to write.

_To Princess Anna of Arendelle I bequeath absolutely nothing, since she was probably the death of me…_

* * *

Having navigated the icy courtyard, Anna rushed back out the palace gates, waving the purse that Elsa had given her. She held the silver candy box in her other hand, the chocolate inside banging around as she ran. "Kristoff!" She yelled out.

Kristoff was leaning against the railing of the bridge again, Anna's purse in one hand. He looked ridiculously relieved to see Anna. "There you are! That took longer than you said it would! What was the holdup?"

"...Just took a while longer to find Elsa than I thought it would, is all." Anna explained after a few seconds' pause.

Kristoff arched an eyebrow for the 5th time that day (Anna mentally groaned). "Is that so?" He asked skeptically with a smile.

"Yes. It is." Anna rolled her eyes. Honestly.

Kristoff looked at her for several moments before turning away, still grinning and raising his eyebrow. "If you say so." He told her nothing of the faint screams and yells he had heard emitting from Elsa's office.

_Ugh_, he could be so… _smug_ sometimes! At the moment, he reminded Anna of the way he'd been during that sled ride when they first met, after telling her about men picking their noses and _ew ew ew _that had been a conversation she really wished she would forget about.

"Ok, you know what? Just… Gimme that!" Anna snatched her own purse out of Kristoff's hand, and dropped Elsa's smaller one and the candy box in it. "Let's just go."

"Righto. About time too."

"Hush, you."

* * *

From the window in her bedroom (the window in her office only provided a view of the gardens), Elsa could see the two walk down the bridge across to the town. She was still working on her 'will' in preparation for the snowball fight, but she had a more pressing matter to attend to first.

She headed back to her office, where she gently opened and closed the door. She leaned against it, exhaling slowly.

Alone at last.

And with a piece of chocolate.

On her desk sat a single morsel of chocolate; one that Anna had missed when she was busy collecting the ones that had been scattered. Elsa had hidden it under several sheets of paper, unbeknownst to her sister, in the hopes that she would be able to bask in the taste of some delicious chocolate later that day.

And now that she was sure that her sister was gone, she could enjoy it in peace.

Smiling, Elsa sat down on her chair and leaned backwards, lifting her legs and resting her feet on the table. She lifted the single piece of Anna's chocolate over her mouth... and paused. She opened her eyes.

_I really shouldn't be doing this… This is _Anna's_, after all. And we just talked._

Huh...

_Then again…_

In the words of Anna, she could hardly let it go to waste, could she?

Elsa closed her eyes and released the piece of chocolate into her mouth.

_The prisoner's last meal before his execution._

_Totally worth it._


	2. Hot Chocolate

_**A/N:**_** A shorter short story, for while I'm still working on a longer one. This one takes place a month after the Great Thaw, when Elsa is still adjusting to the life and work/sleep schedule as a Queen. She's just having a really bad morning.**

* * *

_**Hot Chocolate**_

Elsa's eyes opened.

Sort of. They were pressed into her arms, so they couldn't really open. But consciousness was achieved nevertheless.

She couldn't figure out exactly where she was, at the moment. Her head was resting on her arms facedown, which in turn were resting on something large and bulky. She smelled the scent of old parchment. She was... sitting in a chair?

Elsa twitched her fingers, and felt the wrinkled surface of paper under them. She slowly raised her head and peered over her arms. There was the familiar sight of paperwork all around, piled up high enough to be seen. Beyond that, all she saw was a frosty blue wall with a snowflake pendulum clock hanging above a door.

Ah. She was in her office, wasn't she?

She bolted back up in alarm and scanned the room, ignoring the burning sensation in her eyes as they were exposed to large amounts of light and frigid air. She'd fallen asleep _again _while doing paperwork. The clock said it was a bit past 9 in the morning... So she'd been sleeping for about 6 hours. And had overslept for 3.

Looking down at her desk, she saw that she'd been resting on a large, open dictionary that'd she'd been flipping through before falling asleep (what kind of person used the word _ubiquitous _in a business letter?), and she prayed that she hadn't accidentally drooled all over the pages. The last time she'd fallen asleep at the desk, an entire trade document between Arendelle and Corona had had to be rewritten.

Elsa sighed in relief; the dictionary was unharmed, apart from a slight wrinkling in the pages that it had been open to. But the dictionary was already so old and the pages already worn out that it was hard to tell.

Resting her head in her hands, Elsa fought the temptation to close her eyes again and go back to sleep. Pulling all-nighters was tough. She yawned, closing her vision in the process. She waited for her eyes to reopen. They didn't.

_No, open up eyes. Don't you dare make me fall asleep again._ Elsa had a lot of work to do. As queen of Arendelle, she was responsible for the wellbeing of her people, and couldn't spend her time sleeping when she could be helping her. Sacrifices had to be made to the good of everyone else. Yet as her mind rebelled against her actions, her body refused to obey. She just felt so... Sleepy...

The next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground, tangled up in the chair. She must've dozed off a bit to the side and tilted the chair over. The impact certainly helped wake her up a bit. Just a bit. Grumbling, she picked herself up and patted herself down, before picking the chair back up and putting it back in its proper position.

Maybe some breakfast would help. Yawning yet again, Elsa moved toward the door. She grabbed the knob, twisted, and pushed. When the door refused to open, she pushed harder, but to no avail. It took her several more tries to remember that the door opened in, not out.

Good heavens, she was completely useless in the morning.

* * *

She wandered around the halls, looking for the dining room. With her mind still partially asleep, she managed to get herself completely off course and lost. She found herself standing outside a large, iron door with a statue-like guard posted outside. The guard's eyes widened for whatever reason as he saw Elsa, but he quickly recovered and tilted his hat in greeting before going back into his statue mode.

Elsa smiled wearily and inclined her head in response. She really had no idea where she was now.

Lost in her own palace. She should've seen it coming. Stuck in her room for 13 years, she hadn't had much opportunity to explore and get familiar with the layout of the place. Should she ask the guard for help? That would be a bit embarrassing. Yet she also briefly (and very seriously) considered collapsing onto her knees and sobbing helplessly until she saw Kai walking her way. Good, maybe he could help her out a bit.

"Good morning, your majesty." Kai bowed after nearing Elsa.

"Good morning, Kai." She greeted him half-heartedly.

"What brings you to the armory today?"

Ah, so that was where she was. That explained the iron door and guard.

"Yes, actually... About that... Can we walk?" She really didn't want to discuss her predicament in front of the guard.

"Of course, you majesty."

Elsa walked back the way she thought she had come from, with Kai following.

"I hate to admit it, but I think I'm lost." Elsa muttered to Kai after passing out of the guard's earshot. "I was looking for the dining room, and I somehow ended up over here."

Kai looked at her in amusement. "Too tired to function properly? What have I told you about getting enough sleep?"

Good heavens. Kai may not have been one of Elsa's parents, but he certainly acted like he was sometimes. As he'd been a personal attendant to her parents, he had spent a lot of time with Elsa and Anna as they had grown up. That was probably the only reason why Elsa allowed him to speak out of turn to her all the time, she thought wryly.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Please, Kai, I'm the queen... And besides, I haven't even memorized how to get around this entire place anyway."

"Well, if I may be so bold, I'm afraid you don't look much like a queen at the moment."

Elsa looked at him blankly.

"Your, ah, your hair? Your eyes?"

Elsa took a moment to process what Kai was implying. "I look like a mess, don't I?" Elsa stated flatly.

"I'm afraid you do."

Elsa conjured a mirror of reflective ice out of thin air, and looked at herself in it. Kai was completely right. She looked horrible. Her hair was like a rat's nest, tangled and sticking up all over the place. Her braid's pins had somehow managed to fall out, so that had been undone. Her eyes were bloodshot with dark circles underneath, and her makeup was a bit smeared.

Ugh. No wonder that guard had looked so alarmed when he'd saw her.

Elsa studied her reflection in confusion. "How did my hair even get messed up in the first place? I fell asleep at my desk. In a chair. There was no way I could've moved around at all for this to happen, really."

"Just one of those unsolvable mysteries of the world, I suppose." Kai took a pocket watch out of one of his pockets. "Now, you have a meeting with the governing council in two hours. I'd suggest you clean yourself up by then."

Elsa dissipated the mirror with a snap of her fingers,. Then she ran a hand through her unruly hair and looked at Kai, struggling to remember what he was talking about. Then she said, "...Oh yes, I do, don't I... When did I organize that, exactly? I can't seem to recall."

"Last night, or rather at one in the morning. You said you wanted to discuss how to deal with the Weaselt- sorry, _Weselton_ trading issue once and for all."

Elsa snapped her fingers and wagged her index finger in remembrance. "I did do that, didn't I." She thought a bit more. "I suppose it's too late to cancel it now, isn't it."

"It's never too late if you're the queen. However, it would certainly be bad form."

Elsa groaned. "I'm really not in the mood for any of this today..."

"Well, my assistance is available, as always."

She walked around in a tight circle, thinking, before turning to Kai again. "Just get me to the dining room for now. Some breakfast might help my temperament a bit."

Kai nodded. "Right enough. After me, then." And began to walk away. Elsa trailed after him, wishing for the world that she was still in bed.

* * *

After a minute or two, Kai dropped Elsa off at the dining room. She gave him her thanks before turning to survey the scene. One the dining table were set a few breakfast items; bread, eggs, pancakes, and so on and so forth. There were also glass pitchers filled with milk, water, and various other drinks.

She also found Anna already sitting at the table, looking perfectly fine. Green dress, combed and braided hair, really weird expression as she tried not to laugh at how Elsa looked...

She was eating her own breakfast; a glass of milk, a mountain of buttered toast, and a very large brick of... chocolate. Elsa's stomach grumbled. She realized just how hungry she was (and how tired she _still_ was, for that matter). Doing paperwork and pulling all-nighters was very draining on the body and mind.

As she walked towards the table, she hoped that she wouldn't end up falling asleep in her food.

* * *

Anna saw her sister enter the room, looking horrible. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was all over the place. She was walking like she was still half asleep, which Anna reckoned she was. Neither sister had ever been much of a morning person. But unlike Elsa, Anna was able to wake up with only reasonably messy hair, while her sister would always look like a zombie.

Anna mumbled something unintelligible, as her mouth was filled with chocolate at the moment. Elsa tilted her head and looked at Anna in confusion. Her sister swallowed and tried again.

"Morning Elsa." She said cheerfully, smiling and showing her teeth. Which were all brown and black with chocolate.

"Morning." Elsa replied dryly after a moment's pause. She walked over to the table and pulled out a chair, before collapsing in it.

"You seem like a wreak today." Anna told her, before taking another large bite from a slice of bread.

"That's because I _am_." Elsa muttered. She snatched a slice of bread for herself, placed it on a plate, and then grabbed a knife and a fork.

Before Anna could question what she was doing, Elsa absentmindedly pinned the toast down with the fork and began using the knife to cut it into small pieces, as if it were a piece of steak. Then she started to ramble on about something that Anna wasn't listening to.

"...Lost in my own palace! Completely ridiculous. And then Kai reminded me that I have a meeting in less than two hours, and I still look ghastly, and I _really_ don't want to deal with Weaseltown whatever today. I can't fathom why I wanted that meeting in the first place..." Elsa continued to complain, recapping the first 10 minutes of her morning. And Anna thought that she _herself_ talked a lot.

Elsa was also completely and hilariously oblivious to what she was doing to her toast. It was currently torn into half a dozen or so pieces, scattered about on her plate. Anna felt torn between the urge to laugh and probably choke, or to ask Elsa what the heck she was doing.

She chose to do the latter. Swallowing her food, she waved a hand in front of her sister's face and said, "...Elsa. _Elsa. Hey._" Her rambling interrupted, Elsa blinked and stopped talking, looking at Anna. Anna gestured at her sister's shredded pieces of toast. "_What _in the _world _are you _doing_?"

Elsa looked down, and froze, realizing what she had done. She continued to hold form, staring down the remains of her toast for several moments. Anna took another bite of toast to pass the time.

Then Elsa swore loudly at herself while flinging the knife and fork down and pushing the plate away. She then slumped onto the table, her head buried in the crook of her arms.

Anna choked on her food, shocked by her sister's flippant use of profanity. After several seconds of coughing and spitting out food (which Elsa fortunately did not see), she took a long, deep breath in and then cleared her throat.

"You need to watch your language, girl." She reprimanded Elsa.

"Ts'not like you ever do." Elsa slurred from behind her arms. Which was true enough. Anna had picked up some very choice swear words from reading, overhearing various conversations, and _Kristoff_, of course. She tended to use them rather often, much to Elsa's horror.

Her sister would try to drum some sense into Anna. She would have boring discussion with her about acting and looking like a lady whenever Anna did something crazy that Elsa disapproved was (i.e. just about _everything_), at which point Anna would bring up her previously provocative ice dress. Elsa would stare coldly at her for a brief second before spawning a large pile of snow over Anna's head, then leaving her to dig herself out of it. Not very ladylike of Elsa herself, Anna thought.

"Well then, all I can say to you is to practice what you preach."

Elsa muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'fluff off.'

Anna blanched. "_What_ did you say to me?"

Elsa groaned. "Anna... I've been up for less than 15 minutes and I'm already having an incredibly off day. Please don't help make it worse."

"I dunno, seems to me that you're still mostly asleep." Anna commented without a hint of sarcasm.

"Why do you _think_ I've been have an off day?" Elsa raised her head back up and propped it up with her arms.

"I dunno, drink some coffee then!" Anna suggested, flailing her hands at a pitcher of steaming coffee that was resting on the table.

Elsa made a face. "Ugh, no thank you. That stuff's nasty."

"Well, at least _I'm_ suggesting things instead of just complaining." Anna thought for a moment. "Ah! I know exactly what you need! Here, gimme a cup." Then she proceeded to snatch a cup by herself, bypassing her own request for help.

Elsa watched her curiously. "What are you doing?" She inquired.

Anna reached for the pitcher of milk. "Making some hot chocolate."

Ah. Elsa had heard of that drink before. Apparently it was really popular in Spain, and was spreading through the rest of Europe. Some chocolate based drink based on some other drink from some foreign country the Spaniards had conquered a while ago.

Anna looked up at Elsa, with her arm halfway to the pitcher of water this time. "Well?"

"...What?"

"Now you're supposed to say 'What's hot chocolate' or something along those lines."

Elsa rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Anna, please, I haven't been living in a cave for my entire life-"

Anna scoffed. She figured her room was close enough.

"-So I know perfectly well what hot chocolate is." Elsa waved a hand dismissively. "I just haven't really, um, tried it before."

Anna choked on her food again, then realized that she didn't actually have anything in her mouth to choke on, and quickly regained her composure. Sort of.

"What do you _mean_ you haven't drunken hot chocolate before?" Anna practically shouted incredulously.

"Wait, so you expected me to not know what it was, but also expected me to have drunken it before? How does that even work?"

"I, um... I dunno, yelling questions in disbelief is just my fallback plan for everything." Anna shrugged. "But seriously, _how in the world_ is that possible?"

It was Elsa's turn to shrug. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've actually _ever_ eaten or drunken anything that was hot. Or even warm. Everything I ever had for my meals was room temperature, or cold."

Anna gaped. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah... Mother said that it had something to with my powers, I guess... Apparently the first few times I tried something simply warm as a baby, something happened that discouraged them from ever feeding me something heated."

"Omaigosh, you have no idea what you've missed out on in life. But more on that later. What happened?"

"They never specified, although they said it was very... unpleasant."

"I bet you threw up all over them." Anna laughed.

Elsa made a face. "Anna, don't be gross."

"It's totally possible! Even non-magic babies do it all the time!"

"Yes, well... No."

"Fine, be that way." Anna rolled her eyes and got back to business. "Ok, these are already heated, which is convenient... Milk or water?" Anna asked.

"Um... What?"

"You can make hot chocolate using either milk or water." Anna explained. "Which would you prefer?"

"Oh... Um, water, I guess?" Elsa really had no idea what she was doing. She may have heard about the concept of hot chocolate, but not really any of the details.

Anna poured water from the water pitcher into the empty cup. Then she broke off a few pieces of chocolate from her bar, and placed a few in her own cup of milk, and the rest in the cup with water. As Elsa watched, they began to melt, and brown swirls began to appear in the liquid.

Anna took a spoon and stirred her own cup. She pushed the other cup at Elsa and indicated for her to do the same thing. "It'll help speed things up." Anna said simply.

Once the chocolate had melted and blended completely with the liquids, Anna presented her hands out in front of her. "So... yeah. Hot chocolate. Simple stuff. This is more like warm chocolate though, if you think about it..."

Elsa eyed the drink. It looked like chocolate, it smelled like chocolate, but was it really? And it emitted heat, which was something that Elsa wasn't that comfortable with. Heat plus ice powers equals bad was something she'd grown up figuring.

"And technically, mine is called chocolate milk cause I used milk instead of water you know? But they're practically the same thing." Anna continued. Then she rubbed her hands together. "Now, let's take these somewhere we can enjoy them better.

Elsa looked at Anna, breaking away from her private thoughts. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, in my opinion, hot chocolate tends to taste better the colder the weather is. But considering the time of year it is right now, there are only a few places we can go where it'll be cold. Up in the mountains-" Anna pointed randomly in the air. "-or in your room. Or office. Either one. Both are frozen over anyway."

"You make that sound like it's a bad thing."

"Well, not in this case, no. It's exactly what we need. But most every other time, it is. I mean, it's impossible to go in there without freezing your socks off."

"Well then, it's a good thing I don't wear socks. Ice heels, remember?"

"Ahahaha, I see what you did there." Anna laughed blandly. Then she rolled her eyes. "C'mon, let's move." She stood up with her cup in her hands.

"I could just freeze the dining room over if that'll be more convenient." Elsa suggested.

"And risk freezing the rest of my breakfast as well? I don't think so."

Elsa picked up her cup. She could feel the heat of the drink through the cup. It was a bit unsettling. But before she had more time to think about it, she realized that Anna had already left the table and was stepping into the hall. Elsa quickly followed after, being careful not to spill any of her drink.

* * *

"Geez, it's colder than I remember in here!" Anna shivered as she stepped over the threshold into Elsa's office. Her breath came out in foggy clouds, and steam rose more pronounced from her hot chocolate.

"What are you going to do, go change into some winter clothing and come back in here?" Elsa joked.

Anna wore an expression that said that she was seriously contemplating that idea. Elsa rolled her eyes.

"Nah, too much trouble." Anna finally said. She walked across the small room and grabbed an icy chair. She dragged it over to Elsa's desk, so that she would be facing Elsa. She sat down, trying to ignore the cold it radiated.

Elsa closed the office door behind them, walked over to her desk and sat down on her own chair. She watched Anna take a few sips from her own cup.

Anna caught Elsa looking at her and looked back. "Well, what are you waiting for? Try it!"

"...I dunno about this..." Elsa was having second thoughts. There had to have been a legitimate reason for why her parents had ever kept her from eating heated food, other than her having maybe thrown up on them.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, are you seriously scared of a cup of hot chocolate? It's not going to bite you, you know."

"You don't know that."

"Good grief, Elsa."

"Ugh, fine." Elsa eyed the drink warily, and took a small sip. The warm liquid trickled down her throat, leaving behind a mildly sweet aftertaste.

Elsa paused and put the cup on her desk, then looked down at herself.

"You alright? You're not going to throw up or melt or anything?" Anna questioned.

"No, I... Nothing seems wrong..." Elsa slowly took a few more sips, caution thrown to the wind. Now that she wasn't wondering as much if she was going to die or not, she was able to enjoy the taste. Which was basically chocolate. Liquid chocolate. All warm and melted and silky and delicious and _chocolate._ This stuff was delicious.

She lowered her cup, and looked at Anna.

"This is amazing." She said simply, as if stating a fact.

"I know." Anna with a completely straight face.

The two sister looked at each other for several seconds, then slowly began to grin.

Anna laughed and raised her cup. "Cheers, then!" Elsa raised her own and touched it against Anna's, laughing as well. They both took a large swig from their cups. Elsa managed to drain half of hers.

She lowered her cup and wiped her arm across her forehead. She suddenly felt strangely and perhaps a bit uncomfortably warm. Her wrist came away moist with sweat.

_Wait, since when did I sweat?_

She didn't.

Elsa blinked several times. Definitely uncomfortably warm now. She took several deeps breaths, and wiped her forehead again.

Noticing her sister's unsettled look and actions, Anna looked at her questioning. "Elsa?"

Elsa frowned. "I don't think I feel so good..."

* * *

Two seconds later, Elsa doubled over in her seat, clutching her stomach, eyes clenched shut. Her cup had been dropped somewhere on her desk without care. Her head was incredibly woozy and her stomach felt like it was on fire and burning and melting, and it hurt _a lot_.

Anna immediately stood up, knocking her chair out from under her, hot chocolate momentarily forgotten. "Elsa!" She cried in alarm.

Elsa's mouth opened and closed as she tried to speak, to scream, but nothing came in or out. She couldn't breathe either. She began to panic, thoughts in chaos. She needed cold. She needed water. She needed air. She also needed Anna to do something helpful instead of just staring at her in shock.

In the back of her scrambled mind, she wondered just exactly what the drink had done to her body systems. Like Anna had said, the hot chocolate had more _warm _than hot in the first place_._ If this kind of thing happened when she just consumed something simply warm, she decided that she would never _ever_ have anything that was actually _hot_.

Then, as abruptly as it had arrived, the pain dissipated. Her head cleared. She could breathe again. But Elsa still felt rather sick and abnormally warm. She remained in her folded-up position for several more moments.

Anna snapped back into action and skirted around the desk to Elsa. However, he sister pushed her away, then held up a finger.

"A moment." She panted. "Give me a moment."

Then she took in a deep breath in, held her breath for a moment or two, lifted herself back up, wiped her forehead again, breathed out, cleared her throat... and began to violently cough.

In the meantime, Anna was now looking at her with bugged out eyes, with a mixture of horror, concern, fascination, and utter hilarity. A far cry from the utter fear at her sister's distress several seconds ago.

"Your face is completely _red!_" She exclaimed.

Elsa continued to cough into her arm, trying to breath and ignoring Anna. She really didn't need her brilliant insights at the moment.

"There is _smoke _- or steam, actually - coming out of your _mouth_."

Ignoring, ignoring, ignoring.

"Your dress is _melting!_"

Elsa managed to hold back her coughing just long enough for her to scream/choke out "_What_?" and look down at her dress, completely mortified. But wait, it looked perfectly fine to- oh...

Anna burst out laughing.

"I'm _dying _here and all you can do is makes jokes and laugh!" Elsa gasped out between more coughs, not very amused.

Anna laughed even harder, dropping her head down onto the desk.

Elsa materialized and dropped a pile of snow over her head to silence her.

* * *

After a minute or two, Elsa's coughing had mostly died down. Her throat felt completely raw and dry. Anna suggested drinking some more hot chocolate might help and had offered her what was left in her own cup (which was balanced rather precariously at the edge of the desk). Elsa had glared daggers at her until she had uncomfortably looked away.

Elsa placed her hand in front of her mouth and breathed out. Her breath felt warm, which might have been normal for most people, but not for her. Her breath was generally cool and frosty all the time.

She looked at herself in the small mirror on her desk, and was shocked by what she say. Like Anna had said, her face (and the rest of her, for that matter) had gone a ridiculous shade of red, as contrasted to the pale white from a few minutes ago. A puff of steam came out of her mouth every time she breathed out, slightly obscuring her vision.

Stupid hot chocolate. Never again.

Speaking of hot chocolate... Elsa looked down at the desk, suddenly remembering that there had been a cup. A dropped cup. Half full with hot chocolate. Dropped onto her desk.

"Aw, noooo..."

The cup itself lay shattered on the ground, having rolled off. Its contents, however, were a different matter altogether. Her hot chocolate had gotten all over the open dictionary, soaking its ancient pages. She gingerly picked up the large book, looking at it from various angles. It was completely done for. Fortunately, the hot chocolate hadn't spread to any other articles of paper, leaving the dictionary the sole casualty.

"Well, that was a waste of some perfectly good chocolate." Anna lamented, looking at the huge brown stains in the paper. She took a sip from her own cup.

"And a waste of a perfectly good dictionary." She dropped it to the floor and encased it in a block of ice, then kicked it under the desk. "That can stay there until I deal with it later." She also swept the cup fragments under the desk as well, then froze them in a block of ice to prevent them from accidentally cutting anyone's feet.

"Is that what you do with all of your trash and stuff? Just cover it in ice and throw it somewhere randomly?" Anna asked.

"It's good for temporary disposal." Elsa shrugged.

Anna blinked. She'd been joking, but apparently Elsa was being serious.

"Well then, remind me to look under your bed sometime. It'll be interesting to see what you've got hidden under there."

The look on Elsa's face indicated that she did indeed did have things hidden under her bed. "That's none of your business." She snapped.

Anna raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

* * *

After Elsa had recovered some bit more and her coughing had completely gone away, she slowly stood up and walked around, looking for something to lie down on. The chair just wasn't cutting it at the moment.

Anna, having been crouching by the desk for the past several minutes, immediately stole her seat. She leaned back, hands behind her head, resting the back of the chair against the wall and her feet on the desk.

Elsa, finding nothing that would substitute as a couch or bed, decided to form a large pile of snow on the ground. She promptly collapsed on it, face down with a groan with snow flying everywhere. The temperature in the room proceeded to drastically lower as Elsa sank into the snow.

Anna shivered. And of course, her sister had neglected to take into account that other human begins unable to join the 'the cold never bothered me anyway' club were in the room. Typical Elsa.

"What're you doing?" She asked Elsa, trying to keep her mind off of the cold.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Resting. Relaxing. Cooling down. Chilling." Came Elsa's muffled voice.

"The puns. They hurt."

"That can be your punishment. This is all your fault, you know." Elsa accused.

Anna was offended. "My fault? I was trying to help you wake up!"

"Yes, and you pressured me into drinking something that just about nearly killed me. And now my face looks like a tomato and clouds are spawning out of my mouth." Elsa was actually more upset about the second part.

"Chillax, sis. Red faces fade. And normal people breath out foggy breathe too whenever it's cold. You see me do it all the time."

"Yes, but that's not something _I_ should be doing... The cold doesn't affect me like that."

"But apparently the heat does."

"Yes. Yes it does."

"I'm guessing it has something to do with your powers, then?" Anna figured.

Elsa paused. "...I guess so." She said. "I've always had a much lower than average body temperature than everyone else... I never sweat or anything like that, since I'm constantly regulated at a really low temperature. Although drinking that stuff really did mess it all up. Apparently I don't react well with internal heat?..."

"No kidding. You looked like you were having the world's worst stomachache ever."

"You have no idea."

Elsa turned over onto her back, looking at Anna but saying nothing.

"Well, your face is pretty much back to normal now." Anna observed. "So that's one less thing to unfairly blame me for. Although you still _are_ exhaling steam."

"Is it?" Elsa flicked her hand and the ice mirror flew off her desk and into her hand. She looked at herself. Her skin wasn't red anymore, but it wasn't clear yet either. It was more of a light pink. And yes, her breath was still all cloudy and everything.

She put the mirror back on the desk with another flick of her hand and sighed. Hopefully it would all go away in time for that meeting. She glanced at the clock. She had about 90 minutes left. She still had to freshen herself up, do her hair, fix her makeup, eat some breakfast, and prepare whatever else she needed for the meeting.

"I suppose one good thing _did_ come out of all that." Elsa mused. Anna tilted her head.

"Wuzzat?"

"I think I do feel very much awake right now."

* * *

One and a half hours later, a cleaned up Elsa walked into a large meeting room, consisting of a long oval table surrounded by chairs. Various government officials sat in the chairs, though they stood up when the queen appeared. She motioned for them to sit, before sitting down in her own chair at the head of the table.

The officials looked at each other anxiously. They could tell the queen was in a bad mood, and not just from the sudden drop of temperature when she'd entered the room. They would be treading on thin ice this meeting.

Elsa cleared her throat. "Now, I called us all here today..." She began. Then she realized that several members of the council were staring at her with a surprised expression.

"What is it?" She asked them, annoyed.

The offending members turned to look at one another. Then one of the younger members spoke up. "Um... Apologies, your majesty, but your..." He trailed off.

Elsa looked at him. "Yes?"

"There is... Steam coming out of your mouth. Your breath is fogging up." He said nervously.

Elsa stared him down for a moment, then slowly said, "I have no idea what you are talking about," enunciating every word clearly and coldly.

"Y-Yes. Of course. You're absolutely right, your majesty. My- our apologies." The council member stammered out.

Elsa looked at him for several more seconds, then turned to view the rest of the council. "That's what I thought." She cleared her throat again.

"Thank you... Now, I hope there will not be any more interruptions?" She addressed the latter part to the whole of the council. Without waiting for a reply (it was a rhetorical question anyway), she stated, "Good. Now, as I was saying..."

* * *

_**A/N:**_** These two seem to roll their eyes a lot, don't they.**

**A historical note.****Sweetened/not-bitter liquid chocolate drinks stuff was adapted by the Spanish from the Aztecs' more bitter drink in the 1500s. **

**A historical inaccuracy I noted while researching chocolate/hot chocolate for historical accuracy; the process for making solid chocolate was discovered in 1847. Frozen takes place in the 1820s. But they have solid chocolate in Frozen**_**,**_** during that scene in For the First Time in Forever**_**.**_** Eh.**

**Someday in the future I shall write some more stories about Elsa getting lost in the palace and whatever is hidden under her bed.**


End file.
